baby doll, do you believe they'll catch you when you fall?
by S.J Carter
Summary: She flips the pages of the upside down book, stealing glances and trying her best to slow down her heart beat because she knows that he can hear just how fast it's going. —-HayleyElijah (a series of disconnected drabbles)


_Le notes: _Spoilers for The Originals 1x01. Kind of AU, because I pretend like the whole daggering thing never happened (so I guess this is AU 1x01 and after, really). The title belongs to The Fratellis, and I don't own the characters. And yes, I do ship these two, go figure. I don't get all the hate placed on them, personally, I thought Hayley had absolutely no chemistry with Klaus but had a lot of chemistry with Elijah. Mostly because, I think he has a thing for complicated brunettes, you know?

_Summary:_ She flips the pages of the upside down book, stealing glances and trying her best to slow down her heart beat because she knows that he can hear just how fast it's going. —-HayleyElijah (a series of disconnected drabbles)

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**baby doll, do you believe they'll catch you when you fall?  
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so let me in i'm ready to  
beg and to sing for my sins  
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**one: there's a charade, there's a masquerade**

She wonders when she started noticing these little things about him; things that she wouldn't notice about other people. Small things, insignificant things.

Like the fact that he drinks his morning tea with just a bit of lemon and two spoons of sugar —and always with three biscuits, never calls them 'cookies' either, it's _biscuits_. He likes the radio; the way the images aren't pre-produced for him. He'll listen to anything: a retelling of Tolstoy, the Top 40's, cereal commercials, the weather report. Anything.

He takes long walks, by himself mostly. He seems like he does a lot of thinking. You know, the type who takes strolls around the park, wondering about the effects of socialism and Karl Marx while everyone else is thinking about rather normal things. Or at least, that's what she thinks. Who knows what's really going on in a thousand year old vampire's mind?

"Are you reading Friedrich Nietzsche?" He speaks to her fondly, as if he finds her precious. She sort of knows that it's because of this child she's carrying but, she lets herself be swept away regardless. It's been a while, she thinks, since she's been cared for in such a way.

"What?" She responds, raising her head to meet his gaze from across the dinner table.

"The book you're currently holding." He specifies. "It's about Nietzsche, isn't it?"

She shrugs. Truth be told, she hadn't noticed what in the world she was reading. She just took a book out of Niklaus's shelf only in order to look busy. Or have something to hide behind (as if it were a mask) while she stole glances. Elijah waited for her response. "Uh, I guess so." She weakly says.

He takes a sip from his tea, suddenly intrigued by this bit of knowledge. "You know," he begins, looking her in the eye and making her heart beat just a little faster, "Nietzsche had this theory of eternal recurrence, he said that the life we live, we're going to live over and over again the exact same way, for eternity."

His lips form a smile at the words and she rolls her eyes, realizing the inevitable. For if Nietzsche's theory is true, then Hayley Marshall is a person who's doomed to repeat the same mistakes, over and over again. And coincidentally, Elijah Mikaelson is the same. She realizes this when she sees the sad look in his eyes. So she decides to change the aura. "That means that we all have to go through The Shutdown all over again." She sees him smiling. "Great." She sarcastically releases.

He offers her a look of kindness.

She's finds herself pleased with the fact that she had brought some joy to his day. At this silence, she goes back to hiding behind her book. He pretends not to notice that she carries the book upside down, pretending to read and breathe. All she wants to do is spend some time with him. He wonders, when exactly did he start noticing these things about her?

She flips the pages of the upside down book, stealing glances and trying her best to slow down her heart beat because she knows that he can hear just how fast it's going.

Strangely, Elijah feels flattered.

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**two: you've made a liar out of me**

She's heard stories about him; sometimes from Rebekah and at other times, she finds them out for herself. At times, when he absentmindedly speaks at length or Niklaus mocks him, either way, they both let it slip. And consequently, Hayley can't stop thinking about it.

It's the story of man who loved a woman who came to a village with another man's seed, heavy in her belly. A man who's waited five centuries for her rebirth, who's loved again, who's broken again, and who still holds Katharina in high esteem. Hayley finds out much later that she feels a fire, jealousy igniting in her belly. And when Rebekah teases her for staring at her brother, Hayley scowls and lies and says that she was merely 'spacing out'.

However, Elijah still keeps a picture of Katharina in his wallet. Niklaus has the audacity to call his brother hopeless. But, in that moment, Hayley realizes that perhaps, she'd like to be loved like that. Fiercely and desperately, for five centuries and more, perhaps even until the end of time. She'd like to be loved by him. She'd like to be loved like Katherine was loved.

With the same desperation and insanity, and a brief bit of worship.

She lies to herself by brushing the thoughts away.

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**three: wisterias**

She smelled like wisterias.

Elijah isn't sure when exactly he had come to this realization, or whether or not he prefers it, but he fails to avoid the fact that it's true. She carries the scent with her wherever she goes; it's in her clothes, in her long dark locks, along the lines of her skin and bones. He always knows when she's in the room by the faint scent of wisterias in the air.

Even at this moment, he could smell it. It enveloped them both as the scent almost swallows him whole, overpowering him, enticing him closer to her. Elijah's fingers touch her cheek and then, tighten in her hair as he kisses her. A deep kiss, passionate and strong; so strong that it went beyond the scent. He was certain, he was sure.

(moments later, he finds himself, alone in his bed. Sheets still warm and covered with the scent of wisterias. He closes his eyes and falls back asleep, wondering if he'll ever dream of her again).

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**four: darling, don't you dare run (there's a storm coming)**

Elijah finds her on the outskirts of town, in a rundown bar with the scent of alcohol running high in the air. It's everywhere, on everyone except her as she clutches her belly, tighter and tighter, feeling the dizziness and struggles of a mother to be. There is an empty chair before her, waiting for perhaps a friend (even though she doesn't have any). She licks her lips, eyes tired and filled with fatigue.

Without thought, he approaches her. "Is this seat taken?"

She looks to him, eyes wild and dries her tears quickly. "No." She manages to tell him as he sits before her. He offers a glance, if not of pity then she doesn't know why else. Elijah notices that she's stressed, pressured, and sick of being locked up inside a house because she has to be 'protected'. "You can't possibly run forever." He drawls, reflecting on his own experiences of cowardness and discouragement.

"You can't possibly chase me forever." She mimics, causing him to, at first, hold in a gasp and then, Elijah smiles.

"I hope that _that_ isn't a challenge."

It takes her a while to remember Katharina, and the story of a patient gentleman with old eyes, who chased and chased for five centuries, and even more.

Hayley avoids his gaze, looking towards the glass window beside her. "It's not." She lets him know, waiting for the rain to fall.

"Good," he tells her. "Because if it were, you'd be on the losing end of it, my dear."

She fails to offer him a reply, trying to brush off the comfort she feels, knowing that someone had the audacity to follow her to the ends of the earth.

She never does run again.

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**five: like the girls from the fairytale books**

He reminds her of the boy from the books whom she's never read about because, you see, she is a girl who grew up too quickly. But, she has _heard _about them.

The ladies at the orphanage often read to her, they told her that it would be good for her (they were wrong). It's an old tale; of princes who would climb up to the highest tower and sweep her off her feet. Who would kiss her lips and pry her from a thousand years of sleep. Who would slip a glass slipper on her foot and whisk her away to his castle.

However, none of those tales ever managed to prepare her for this:

"I will _always _protect you. You have my word on that." Elijah tells her, resting a hand on her shoulder and at that moment, she can't help but feel weak in the knees.

Hayley loses her balance.

She wonders if this is how the princess felt when she finally met her prince.

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**six: i know you wanted to be loved, but you're bleeding**

Hayley Marshall doesn't think that she's ever been loved.

It's not like she's one of those girls; desperate to be loved by some guy in a tux. No, actually, it's more like she just wants a friend, or a member of her family to make her feel _wanted_. Perhaps, she thinks that she began to realize this when her adoptive mother threw her out.

She recalls a few moments with her nowadays, although her mother ran off before Hayley could ask for anymore. But the days of her childhood aren't so dark. They're sort of bright, on mornings mostly. Golden days, she remembers, with laughter and the wakefulness of the horizons. The sting of salt on her cracked lips when she awoke in the midst of the night, crawling to mommy's side. Her memory is painfully vivid; she can imagine her mother shivering as she holds the covers close to her; a ragged blanket pulled up to her nose as if she could somehow retain all the warmth of her exhalations.

She brings her hands together in order to rub them, in search of heat of any sort. But, it's just no use, she keeps trembling like a leaf about to fall off a tree.

Hayley reaches for her hand and almost immediately, her mother pushes her away.

The young girl awakens with the break of morn, the memory still melting on her tongue. And she turns to her side and mommy is gone; without even a fair warning or a simple note on paper.

She curls himself into a ball, inhaling the fading scent of her soft perfume through the bed sheets. She smells like jasmine.

_Hayley, I'm sorry. I'm so so so sorry, but being a mom just isn't easy._

(she had always been cold).

"Mom!" Hayley awakens, frightened and shivering, sweat dripping down her limbs. She takes a good look around the room before realizing that she had fallen asleep on the Mikaelson couch. She was relieved, no longer was she stuck in the past.

However, there was something strange enveloping her body. It was a blazer, grey and smelling like strong cologne. But at least, it's warm. She takes another look around but fails to notice a lingering presence. Hayley pulls the blazer close and tries to fall back asleep. Somehow, the scent of it is rather comforting. And she's never been loved before but, she thinks that perhaps _this _is the closest that she'll ever get to it.

Elijah watches her from a distance, reaching his hand out and quickly pulling it back, knowing that his timing will never be right.

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**seven: oh, take me back to the start**

Hayley's long fingers always seem to inch closer to his own as she tries to breathe in a steady fashion. She's nervous, always nervous around him nowadays and he pretends not to notice but lately, it seems that she's started to make him nervous as well. And she should, he has, after all, offered her a great deal of information about his past. This girl who was a stranger, now his family, and he couldn't say is she were also something in between the lines.

Her hand, finally, finds a way to rest itself over his skin. "You told me about your father but...never about your mother." She specifies and perhaps, she may just want a glimpse of motherhood from him. For she is a girl, motherless and fragile, about to become a mother herself and hasn't a clue about what a 'family' really is.

Elijah twists his head around so he's facing her. He meets her desperate gaze, the eyes of a girl filled with unanswered questions and unfulfilled dreams. And he honestly thinks that he cannot do much, not really. Suddenly, the room feels much hotter than it should. The air is thick and heavy. She can't keep her eyes off of him, sweat dripping down her forehead and her hair is tied back. He swallows and repeats. "My mother?"

Her eyebrows lift as she nods.

He tightens his grip around her fingers. He doesn't know what to tell her; about how his mother made him a vampire? How she tried to end him? And yet, he never could forget the look on her face when he first caught a bird or rode a horse. She had been so proud. "She was beautiful." Elijah finally releases.

He looks in to Hayley's eyes and doesn't know whether he's talking about his mother, or the girl currently sitting before him.

He forgets to answer her question with more details as he is lost within her entity; he doesn't think that he will ever stop discovering each and every part of her.

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**eight: i'll carry your world, and all your hurt**

The first time she crawls in to his bed is the night he finds her, hiding.

She's frightened beyond belief, trembling and shaking as she brings her knees closer to her chest. Her long and slender arms wrapping themselves around her own body, she's sunk so low. She really hates this, being so vulnerable and weak. And what's worse is that she's no longer alone. She was so used to being alone; it was so much less embarrassing. When, you know, you're scared so you hide and cry yourself to sleep. And sure, sometimes it sucks because there's no one there to hold you or to wipe your tears away but, at least you're not fucking embarrassed because no one's there to see you when you're broken either.

But Elijah has a stubborn soul, sometimes annoying and admirable (because it takes some strength to hold on to something for so long). He only holds his hand out for her to take and doesn't even ask about her stupid and irrational fear of thunder.

She wants to scream, to push him away. But instead, all she does is cry, harder.

"I'm sorry," she whispers, as he takes in his arms and places her in his bed. "I'm so sorry for being such a child." She's supposed to be grown up, you see, she's having a baby after all, isn't he?

Elijah holds her close, holds her as if he'll never let go. "It's okay," he tells her. "_It's okay._" He repeats, ghosting his fingers closer to her hand, making her feel as if she's worth _something_. As if she is not alone. As if he can take away some of her pain with just a few, simple words.

"It's not childish to be scared." He tells her this because he's scared too.

He really is, but he stays strong for her.

She doesn't notice and merely watches him as he lifts up the blankets. Hayley slips underneath them, curls in to Elijah and lets out a shaky breath, heavy enough to rattle the bones in his chest. She presses her forehead to his back.

The rain continues to fall, hard and heavy.

And when lightning strikes, Elijah tightens his grip around her fingers.

Somehow, Hayley feels as if she's now scared of something else entirely; a four lettered word, much more destructive than any amount of thunder or lighting.

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**End**

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_Le more notes: _If you haven't guessed it already, that 'four-lettered word' is 'love' and yes, love can be ever so scary. Anywho, I think that I might write more Hayljah, if or when they get more scenes and because they are a rareship and I LOVE rareships/crackships. Until then, please follow me on tumblr, the link is on my profile. I make pretty graphics. You can leave me prompts if you want, I'll be sure to try and write something for you because honestly, I think that these two have so much potential. And please, don't favourite without reviewing, I'd love to know what you think so don't be shy, leave me a review pretty please!

**_—Xoxo Carter_**


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